Lightning Sets Three Frisco Homes Ablaze
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FRISCO (CBSDFW.COM) - Morning thunderstorms kept Frisco firefighters busy when three separate lightning strikes set homes on fire.
When Bill Stovall thinks about how bad it could have been, he's grateful his kitchen saw the worst of the damage.
"I heard just an extremely loud explosion. It sounded like a power transformer exploding, and my smoke detectors all went off," Stovall said.
Stovall called 911, then shot video of smoke filling his kitchen. He thought it might be an electrical fire, so he ran to turn off his power box.
"Flipped the breakers off, and when I came back in, it was just even worse, and then you could see the flames starting to come out of the cabinets," Stovall said.
Within minutes of Stovall's call, firefighters found a second home a few miles east also on fire from a lightning strike. Then nearby, a third home near White Rock Creek caught fire. Neighbor Tracey Hopkins says it happened after she saw repeated lightning strikes hit the golf course behind her home.
"Looking out that back, it's all windows, and I saw lightning here and lightning there," Hopkins said.
The strikes left dozens temporarily without power. In all, meteorologists saw 150 to 200 lightning strikes every 5 minutes during the storm that hit Frisco. And that area had the highest density of strikes in Collin County.
"That's what's scary about it. I really don't remember. I mean I've lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area all my life. I really don't remember that many lightning strikes coming so close in such a populated area," Hopkins said.
Now Stovall said he just hopes this stroke of bad luck will be a one-time fluke.
"They say lightning doesn't strike twice, so hopefully it won't happen again," Stovall said.
Investigators estimate damages between $50,000 to $150,000 per home. They said two of the three roofs will have to be replaced.
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